For many years past this important and admirably-conducted business has
occupied a position of great distinction in the cab and coach-building
trades, and it may be questioned whether any other firm has ever been
entrusted with so many valuable commissions from those in high places as
have Messrs. Forder. Founded in 1864 by the late Mr. Frederick Forder and
Mr. Traves, the concern has progressed steadily and surely, until now its
reputation is of the highest. Mr. Traves retired from the business in 1866,
which then became known as Forder and Company. The first distinct success
the firm achieved was in connection with a prize offered by the Society of
Arts, for a hansom cab which would remedy the defects of those then in use
in regard to " want of room, the difficulty of getting in and out, by reason
of the interference of large wheels, and the want of ventilation when the
windows are closed." For this there were no less than sixteen competing
firms, including many of the most famous carriage builders in the United
Kingdom. After an exhaustive examination of the various cabs submitted,
however, the prize was awarded to Messrs. Forder, whose vehicle was and is a
distinct advance on those generally in use. Their success in the competition
was followed by an order from the Prince of Wales, who had taken a warm
interest in the matter, and some little time later they received a warrant
of appointment to H.R.H. The cab has since been known as the PATENT ROYAL
HANSOM, and it has been the only cab awarded first-class prizes for three
successive years in open competition with the principal cab builders of the
United Kingdom, these being awarded Messrs. Forder at the London
International Exhibition of 1873, when they received a medal ; at
Manchester, in 1874, when they received the special and only gold medal; and
again at Manchester, in 1875, when they received the first prize in the
Manchester Cab Competition. The same year saw another and even more
important competition in Alexandra Park, and here again two first-class
prizes and one special prize were awarded to Messrs. Forder, for the Royal
Hansom. The cab is roomy, well ventilated, and has an easy draught for the
horse, and the success it has achieved is undoubtedly well deserved [note:
at this point in the original document the end of the page occurs; the next
page continues - somewhat inexplicably:]subscribed. Three years later,
however, it was decided to further extend the business by the issue of fresh
capital open to public subscription. and this was done successfully; the
same year being marked by the receipt of a warrant of appointment to the
Queen. Mr. Frederick Forder, the founder of the business, died in 1896, and
the present directorate consists of Mr. Charles Forder, the chairman of the
company, who manages the Wolverhampton works; Mr. Alfred Forder, the London
manager, and Mr. Robert Muras, the secretary. The late Mr. R. Forder and the
present members of the family may fairly claim to be considered experts in
the matter of cab manufacture, and leave taken out several valuable patents,
affecting important improvements.

Messrs. Forder, it may be said, are largely responsible for the
rubber-tyred cabs, which have proved such an unqualified success, and which
they induced Lord Shrewsbury to try- experimentally on his first hundred
hansoms. They have now a special plant for tyre manufacturing purposes, and
do an enormous business in supplying coach builders with them.

Amongst the hundred of distinguished and prominent people who have from
time to time patronized Messrs. Forder, we man name H.M. the Queen. H.R.H.
the Prince of Wales, the Princess Malakoff (of Paris), Prince Belorselsky
(of St.Petersburg), Prince Orloff, County Henry de Portes (Paris), W. K.
Vanderbilt, Esq., G. A. Vanderbilt, Esq., Andrew Carnegie Esq., of the
U.S.A. of A) and Sir James Sivewright, the President of the Cage Parliament.
These, it should be said, have come to Messrs. Forder, not only for cabs,
but carriages also, which have of late years been made in every description
and with great success.

Messrs. Forder make all their own wheels, springs, and iron work
generally, and at their works opposite the General Hospital, in Cleveland
Road, over a hundred employees are kept busily engaged. The Company have
recently taken some fine showrooms in Lichfield Street, one of the most
important thoroughfares in Wolverhampton.